Over the course of more than 2 centuries, Courage was among the best-known names in British brewing. In 1787 John Courage bought a small brewery at Horselydown on the foreshore of the south bank of the Thames, a site now adjacent to Tower Bridge, London (completed in 1892). Brewing may have been carried out at this site as far back as the 16th century. The Borough of Southwark was the center of the English hop trade, and other breweries flourished there, notably that of Barclay, Perkins and Co., which lay to the west of Horselydown, beyond London Bridge. See barclay, perkins & co. Curiously, Courage named his property the “Anchor Brewery,” a name already in use for Barclay’s concern, one of London’s biggest porter breweries, which had passed through several hands since it was founded in 1616.

Courage died only 6 years later in 1793; his son John did not succeed him until he became a partner in 1811. He became sole owner of the growing company in 1851, having, among other things, purchased wharves on both the east and west sides of the brewery, ensuring good access for shipping in raw materials and shipping out products. Another advantage of the site was that it possessed its own artesian wells, of excellent quality for brewing, for which Thames water was not suited. Some of Courage’s land was later sold to the Corporation of London when Tower Bridge was built.

In 1888, although still under the control of the Courage family, the brewery became the limited company Courage & Co. Alfred Barnard recorded his visit to the brewery, and reported that it had produced over 300,000 barrels (490,000 hl, 405,100 US barrels) of beer in 1887. But in 1891 the brewery buildings were set on fire, presumably caused by a malt dust explosion, and the brewhouse burned for several days. Brewing recommenced within a short time, but as the brewery buildings were being reconstructed, Courage & Co. was forced to buy beer from Barclay’s in order to meet their commitments to London customers.

In the latter part of the 19th century pale ale, especially that from Burton-on-Trent, became popular. See burton-on-trent. But the carbonate water from Horselydown wells was not suitable for brewing such beer. Courage overcame this difficulty by importing pale ale from Flower & Son of Stratford-on-Avon in 1872, and later from Fremlins of Maidstone in Kent. In 1903 the company purchased Hall’s brewery at Alton in Hampshire, the first of many such acquisitions. In most cases, Courage desired only to obtain the public houses owned by the companies it bought, and closed the breweries, then supplying the pubs from either Horselydown or Alton as appropriate.

Courage continued to prosper through two World Wars, although there was a hiatus during World War II. Horselydown lay in the area of London Docks, a prime target for German bombers in the blitz on London, and it was duly hit, the brew house destroyed, and even the river wall breached. For a second time reconstruction commenced, although the brewhouse was not to be completed until 1954.

In 1955 Courage and Co. merged with their Southwark neighbor, Barclay, Perkins & Co, to form Courage and Barclay Ltd. Shortly after this there came a period known as “merger mania” started in the brewing industry by Canadian tycoon E.P. Taylor, and which resulted in the formation of several large brewing groups, among them the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. Courage and Barclay were not immune to this hysteria, and in 1960 the new entity merged with Simonds of Reading, Berkshire, becoming Courage, Barclay & Simonds. This group carried out several further purchases before becoming victims themselves, being bought out by Imperial Tobacco in 1972.

Mayhem, rather than mania, then ensued, for Imperial itself was bought up by the Hanson Trust in 1986. The latter sold Courage on to the Australian company Elders IXL (owners of the Fosters brand), and in 1991 an arrangement was made with the Watney group (owned by Grand Metropolitan) to acquire all of Watney’s breweries, with each company’s pubs going into a separate group, known as Inntrepreneur. Elders decided to leave the British brewing scene in 1995, selling off Courage to Scottish & Newcastle. This company became known as Scottish Courage, and was the largest British brewer until it too was swallowed up by a greater entity, Heineken Brewing, in 2008.

Barclay’s brewery was closed and demolished in 1986. Courage had closed their Horselydown brewery in 1981, transferring production to their more modern Worton Grange plant, near Reading. The Horselydown site had increased in value as the property market in London soared, and it was converted into luxury waterside apartments. The massive building was not destroyed; its river frontage is still magnificent and is visible from Tower Bridge.